Greatest UEFA Champions League XI of all time

Bhargav
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are two of the greatest players in Champions League history.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are two of the greatest players in Champions League history.

Left winger - Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best players in Champions League history.
Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best players in Champions League history.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the greatest goalscorer to have played in the Champions League.

The 36-year-old holds a slew of records in the competition. He is the only five-time Champions League winner and is the competition's all-time record goalscorer with 134 goals for three different clubs. Ronaldo's 176 appearances are the most by an outfield player in the Champions League.

Now back at Manchester United, Ronaldo will look to hit the ground running in his favorite competition after three modest campaigns with Juventus.


Centre forward - Karim Benzema

Karim Benzema has had success in the Champions League.
Karim Benzema has had success in the Champions League.

Karim Benzema is one of the underrated strikers in Champions League history. That is because he largely operated under the shadow of his illustrious former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo for over a decade at Real Madrid.

However, the 33-year-old Frenchman has been a steady if not spectacular performer in the Champions League over the years. One of only two players to score in 16 consecutive seasons in the competition, Benzema recently notched up his 70th goal in the Champions League.

The four-time Champions League winner has scored most of his goals in the competition for Real Madrid, whom he joined in the summer of 2009.


Right winger - Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi has been a prolific scorer in the Champions League.
Lionel Messi has been a prolific scorer in the Champions League.

Lionel Messi, along with Ronaldo, is one of the greatest players to have played in the Champions League.

The 34-year-old Argentine is one of only two players to have scored over 100 goals (120 ) and eight hat-tricks in the competition. Messi, a four-time Champions League winner (with Barcelona), has scored goals galore, both from inside and outside the box.

Now with PSG, whom he joined this summer, Messi will look to become only the second player to win five Champions League titles.

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Edited by Prem Deshpande
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